Gen. Dostum likely to meet President Ghani today

The First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum will likely meet President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani today.

Sources close to Gen. Dostum have RFE/RL’s Afghanistan service that the meeting will likely take place during the day time today.

The source has not disclosed further information regarding the likely meeting and it is yet not clear on what issues the two leaders would hold talks.

However, Gen. Dostum had earlier said that he would hold talks President Ghani regarding the release of Nizamuddin Qaisari, the acting district police chief of Faryab’s Qaisar district.

A spokesman of Junbish Milli Party, Bashir Ahmad Tahyanj, had earlier said Gen. Dostum would step up efforts for the release of Commander Nizamuddin Qaisari after his return to Kabul.

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Protesters closed Hairatan port in Balkh

Balkh protesters on Wednesday closed Hairatan commercial port and vowed to keep it shut until government accepts their demands.

Deputy of Jumbish Party, Gul Mohammad Arkin, said Thursday that the port will remain closed for shipments coming in from Uzbekistan and for government employees.

Meanwhile, residents in the northern provinces, especially traders, urged protesters not to disturb their daily and economic activities.

Protests were launched two weeks ago in a number of provinces in north of Afghanistan after Nizamuddin Qaisari, the district police chief for Qaisar and close aide to exiled First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, was arrested by government forces.

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Protesters close IEC оffices in Faryab and Sar-e-Pul

Protest over the arrest of Nizamuddin Qaisari, a militia commander and a close to Vice President General Dostum entered its ninth day in northern Faryab and Sar-e-Pul provinces.   

The protesters on Wednesday shut down the provincial offices of the Independent Election Commission in Faryab and Sar-e-Pul provinces and warned the offices will remain closed until the government makes way for the return of VP Dostum and release of commander Qaisari.

“If our demands were not addressed, we will close the government institutions,” said Ehsanullah Qoyanj, head of Youths Council of Junbish Millie party.

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Clashes erupt in Kabul over reburial of long-dead king

Clashes broke out in Kabul on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, between supporters of Afghanistan’s Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, left, and a group trying to rebury the remains of King Habibullah Kalakani, at right, who was hanged in 1929.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Fighting broke out in the Afghan capital Thursday between supporters of Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum and a group attempting to rebury the remains of a long-dead monarch whose short-lived, despotic rein ended with his hanging in 1929.

Fighting erupted in the early afternoon, when supporters of the vice president, an ethnic Uzbek, opened fire on pallbearers carrying the remains of King Habibullah Kalakani, a Tajik, near the Shahrara area of the city, wounding five people, Afghanistan’s Tolo News reported.

On social media, eyewitnesses posted photos of a pock-marked wall and a bleeding victim. They said shooting lasted for about 25 minutes.

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